SEOUL, Dec. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Despite South Korea’s national health insurance plan, 8 out of 10 citizens also subscribe to private health insurance policies.
Because public insurance only covers up to 60 percent of medical bills, analysts say that people are looking to private insurance policies to help offset the medical costs that they have to pay out of pocket.
According to the National Health Insurance Service, 77.7 percent of 17,424 surveyed household members (12,842 people) subscribed to at least one private health insurance policy.
The average number of policies people had subscribed to was two, and they paid an average of 123,963 won (US$110) in premiums monthly.
H. S. Seo (hsseo@koreabizwire.com)